It's Not Stupid
by The Dragon Lover
Summary: "It's a day about love. Don't you know how important that is? It's the entire reason we're even here." - Friend or ship, Phoenix and Miles make quite the pair. Written as a gift.


**It's Valentine's Day, a day Person A of your OTP despises for being so mushy and sappy, while Person B is a helpless romantic who cherishes the day. Only for Person B's sake, Person A tries to make the day special. How the day goes is all up to you.**

While this piece doesn't completely match the prompt - it's honestly more written as a friendship fic with the _possibility_ of shippy-ness if you squint - I still wrote the prompt here to give others the chance to use it. For more awesome prompts to use for your OTPs, or just in general, you can go to the tumblr page where I found this one, OTPprompts.

(You can also thank one of my roommates for this piece being written, because she adores Phoenix and Miles as a ship. Not that I don't, but she's pretty smitten with the pairing. Because I feel bad for not uploading things here for ages, I'm putting up this piece from November 2014. Better late than never?)

* * *

 _"Hey, Edgeworth?"_

 _Covering something on his desk, the boy turned a sullen look to his friend Phoenix. "What is it," he muttered, looking none too happy to have been interrupted._

 _"Uh," the black-haired tried peering over his shoulder, to no avail, "I was just... wondering if you wanted to play."_

 _"Not right now," Miles muttered._

 _Leaning closer, Phoenix asked, "What are you working on?"_

 _"Nothing..."_

 _"Doesn't_ look _like nothing." He reached for the desk, only to get a hand in his face. "Ack!"_

 _"Stop it!"_

 _The stern voice of their teacher stopped them as she called, "Boys!" Her tone was scolding enough, and they mumbled their apologies with their gazes on their shoes._

 _The disruption at least gave Phoenix the chance to peek at what his friend was working on._

 _"Hey, is that a Valentine?"_

 _Immediately, Miles became defensive. "No!" He became flustered when the paper was suddenly in Phoenix's hand. "H-hey, give that back!"_

 _"I just wanna see!" Taking a moment to look at it, he asked after the gray-haired kid snatched it back, "Who's it for?"_

 _Miles kept his focus on the valentine as he smoothed it out, attempting to fix the wrinkling. "No one," he answered quietly. Glancing over, he shot back, "Aren't you going to make any?"_

 _Phoenix rested his arms behind his head. "Nope." The "p" popped in his mouth like chewing gum._

 _"Why not?"_

 _Frowning, he countered, "Why should I? It's just a stupid holiday. I only want the candy, anyway."_

 _"It's not stupid," Miles argued, glaring at him. Covering the paper, he pointed out, "It's a day about love. Don't you know how important that is? It's the entire reason we're even here."_

 _"Well... yeah, obviously."_

 _Nodding, the gray-haired child reiterated, "Then it's not stupid. It can get a little_ silly, _but... it's not stupid."_

 _"Okay, fine." Phoenix sighed and flopped into his seat. "It_ is _silly, but... at least there's lots of candy!"_

 _His friend sighed. "Wright..."_

"Mr. Wright?"

Glancing up from his desk, Phoenix blinked as memories faded into reality. He realized he had been lost in thought for a while, earning Athena's worried gaze. With a smile, he waved away her worries. "Sorry. I was spacing out, huh?"

"Yeah." She grimaced. "I wasn't sure what to think of the faces you were making." But she set aside her worry to approach his desk and unknowingly echo the past: "Hey, is that a valentine?"

"No—well, yeah," he amended at her dubious look. "But I didn't make it. Trucy made it for me."

"Aww!" Clasping her hands, the redhead cooed, "She's adorable! She gave me one, too!"

"She worked hard last night to make them." Phoenix chuckled, remembering the sight Trucy had made with red and pink scrap paper littering the table and sofa. _So much excitement for such a silly little thing._ He couldn't begrudge her happiness, even if he wasn't too fond of the nauseatingly marketed holiday himself.

Athena grinned. "I think Apollo liked his. She gave his extra pizazz."

"Of course she did," laughed the black-haired man. Shaking his head, he held up the stack his daughter had left for him that morning. "Now I've just got to deliver the rest of them. I'm pretty sure she made valentines for the entire city."

This brightened the young attorney's smile. "Such a sweetheart," she gushed. "Hey! Did she make one for Simon?"

" "Did she make one for Simon," she asks." Rolling his eyes, he forked it over. "After seeing the ones she made for the bailiffs, nothing would surprise me." His finger brushed across one in particular, and he frowned. He wasn't sure if this one would be as well received.

"Hey, do you want me to run down to the courtroom and hand these out? I'm sure you and Apollo can hold down the fort without me."

 _Not a bad idea._ He handed them all over, save for one. "Try not to fall down the stairs again," he called after her, earning a sassy response. _Sometimes, it hardly feels like I'm the boss around here._ It wasn't all that bad; at least he didn't feel like he was babysitting them.

Leaning back in his chair, Phoenix eyed the remaining valentine, as if scrutinizing a piece of evidence before a trial. Would it stand up in court? Or would the prosecution, as usual, write it off as something trivial?

"Agh." He was getting ridiculous. "I should've just let Athena deliver it." After all, Trucy had worked really hard on it, and she would be very upset if he just threw it away. It was too late to call the redhead back, and school ended in about an hour. _And if I wait until she gets home, who knows what she'll make me do..._

Without any other options, he reluctantly got up from his chair, telling Apollo, "Keep an eye out for clients."

"Right. ...er, Mr. Wright, what are you leaving for?"

Sighing, Phoenix only said, "I'll be back soon."

Half an hour later, he was reminding himself how stupid this errand was. "I'm a grown man," he muttered, hands fisted in his pockets. The valentine was hidden in a folder tucked underneath his arm. _There was no_ way _I was going to walk around with that out in the open!_

Yet he still found himself standing in front of the Chief Prosecutor's office door, hand raised to knock. _The things a father will do for his daughter..._

"Come in," came the curt voice of his old friend, Miles Edgeworth. It warmed a bit when he entered, although most wouldn't be able to tell the difference. "What do you need, Wright? I'm busy."

"Of course you are," teased Phoenix. _Always such a workaholic._ Even now, the prosecutor was signing a document, likely giving permission for further investigation into some grisly murder. "You're really getting into the holiday spirit."

"What?" For a moment, Miles was confused. A glance at his calender answered his question. "Oh. I'd almost forgotten."

 _Almost?_ Leaving it be, the attorney lifted his arm to present the folder. "Uh, here."

The gray-haired man stared at him over his glasses, a sight Phoenix had more than gotten used to in the last few years. "More paperwork? Wright, you shouldn't have."

"N-no, no, not paperwork." _It always throws me off when he cracks a joke._ Rubbing his neck, he explained as the folder was opened, "I-it's from Trucy. Apparently, she loves this silly holiday."

"...Hm." Turning the pretty pink card over, Miles read aloud, " "Happy Valentines Day, lots of love from Trucy and Daddy." "

"Uh..."

Well, he wasn't all that surprised his daughter had included him on the card. She probably knew he wasn't going to do anything to celebrate; this was likely her way of including him. _Actually, she probably did that with_ all _of the cards... oh, boy._

Smirking, the prosecutor set down the folder. "Why, Wright, I didn't know you participated in such a "stupid" tradition." A hand rose to rest against his chin as he watched Phoenix flounder for a response.

"I, well—I didn't _really_ participate, Trucy just sort of wrote my name on the card, and—" As Miles began to chuckle, the attorney felt even more ridiculous than before. So he blurted the only thing he could think of. "It's not stupid!"

Immediately, the laughter stopped.

"Er..." He eyed the other man's blank expression. _Did I say something wrong?_ Shaking away his doubts, he continued on with a strong sense of _déjà vu_ , "Well, i-it's not stupid. Maybe very silly, and... well, _really_ expensive. But, hey—" He gestured between them. "Love is the reason we're even here, right?"

 _Yeah,_ he thought. _I've got a lot to thank love for._ The compassion and support from all of his friends, and the family he had made for himself... Without people like Mia, Maya—and Edgeworth—he probably wouldn't be where he was today. _And I happen to like where I am, thank you very much._

When his gaze focused on the prosecutor once more, he was startled to realize that Miles was smirking at him once more. "Uh..." _Please tell me I wasn't making some sappy face._

"It's good to see that even someone as stubborn as _you_ can see good sense," came the smug commentary. "I'll have to thank your daughter for knocking it into you, I suppose."

Phoenix rubbed his neck again, grinning. _Leave it to Edgeworth to use sarcasm to relieve awkwardness._ "I don't think I can credit it _all_ to her. There was this other kid who _really_ loved Valentine's Day, and something he said just kind of stuck with me."

"Must have been a smart boy," Miles retorted, without missing a beat.

"Yeah," the attorney nodded, "he knew what he was talking about."

"Of course."

"But he was a bit of a romantic, so I guess that's to be expected."

Miles spluttered. "W-what?!" He clearly hadn't been prepared for such a statement.

 _Gotcha!_ Grinning, Phoenix went on, "I mean, he wore _pink_ all of the time. Of course he loved Valentine's Day."

" _Objection!_ There is nothing wrong with a man wearing a _carmine_ suit!"

"Are you sure it wasn't pink?"

"Absolutely!"

"It looked pink to me."

"Wright..."

"Heh." _I guess Valentine's Day isn't so bad._ Any chance to gain the upperhand against his lifelong rival—and closest friend—was much appreciated.

 _Why would I want to be anywhere else?_

* * *

 _-Dragon_


End file.
